El Niño delivers in the Golden State

Words by Jake Howard 

It’s Friday in California, the conditions continue to improve and there’s a healthy amount of swell still running. It’s been a difficult swell to nail down, but if you were able to be at the right place at the right time, what a week it’s been. Let’s pause and remember a few moments that have brought El Nino to life.

You see that thing that looks like G Mac’s body being catapulted down a Mavericks screamer? It is.

G-Mac’s Body Whomp
Yesterday Garrett McNamara was the first to paddle out at Maverick’s. He attempted to ride the first wave—a meager 50-footer. About a quarter of the way down the face he got bucked, skipped a few times, then got fucked. Lucky to survive at all, his shoulder’s blown. As you read this he’s undergoing emergency surgery in Marin County. I’m no doctor, but rumor has it the only thing keeping his arm attached was the skin. Gnarly. Mavs water safety guru Frank Quirarte called it one of the worst wipeouts in big-wave history, and he’s seen a few. For the most part it was too big to paddle and the swell direction was wrong, but Jeff Clark did apparently run Derek Dunfee over with a 30-foot boat, so there’s that.

Heading On Down To The Sandbar
If perfect sandbar waves are what you seek, Santa Barbara was the spot yesterday morning. Ol’ Seal Tooth bagged a cock-high runner that served up an immediate Insta hit, then got snaked producing yet another Insta hit. Big day for Mr Reynolds in the social media realm. His boy Yadin Nicol was knifing some perfection. Kerrzy was there. San Clemente wonder grom Jett Schilling rolled up. All in all, it was a scene. Meanwhile, up north a few clicks enigmatic Tom Curren busied himself successfully avoiding the scene and scoring. The day ended with Curfuffle and Taylor Knox playing some eight ball.

Squealing in Seal
The south side of the Seal Beach pier isn’t really a wave. It’s flat a good majority of the time, but every once in awhile a hit of swell squeaks through its narrow swell window and wedging shore pound offers up a chance to get tubed before being obliterated. It’s a wave you have to be on to get. Local Teddy Navarro knows this and thusly never takes his eyes off the place. Early in the run of storms he got one that hit the social media airwaves with a vengeance. That was followed up by a video clip of another guy getting blown out of a drainer and going ass over tea kettle in the air. Of course it was picked up and run everywhere…and of course there are a 100 photographers on the beach today.